Significance of Yagyas

Q: Gurudev, what is the importance of yagna? I heard that if we do yagna, then even the rain comes. Why don’t we do a big yagna, and finish all the bad things in the world?

Sri Sri: Have you heard about the butterfly effect? A butterfly, fluttering its wings in Amazons, can affect the clouds in China. It means, every little thing, affects every other little thing in the universe, in the cosmos. So, yagnas are those ancient rituals or practices that have an effect on the environment, on the collective consciousness, and on the individual mind.

Meditation and the Thousand-headed Cobra!

If you look at the mythological pictures, you will find Mahavir sitting with a five headed cobra behind him. Or Lord Vishnu is sitting in meditation and there is a cobra behind him. Even in the pictures of Rishis, you will find a cobra with its hood open at the back. Have you seen such pictures? It is a very subtle thing!

See, when you are sitting in meditation, what is happening? Your consciousness is getting alert, opened and awakened, as though in your back ground there is a thousand headed cobra. Cobra signifies alertness.

Bhadrakali - The Auspicious One

Significance of Kali standing on top of Shiva

Kali is symbolic of enormous transformative energy; energy of destruction. When that stood on the Shiva Tattva, it became Bhadrakali, which means, the energy which only brings benevolent results. The whole thing is symbolic; it implies the energy that brings benevolent results only.

Shiva is the transcendental state; it means one who brings only benevolence and good to the world.

So when Kali, an enormous, destructive power was in rage; in that moment, Shiva came and lay down. As soon as she stepped on him, Kali’s power got controlled, channelized and became benevolent. So, even if there is destruction, it should be benevolent.

Kartikeya

Birth of Kartikeya

When the five elements governed by Lord Shiva (Panch Mahabhoota - Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Ether) united with Shakti (pure consciousness), Lord Kartikeya was born.

Shiva is called Panchaanana – Lord with five heads. These five heads represent the five elements in Nature. When these five elements united with the sixth: Chaitanya Shakti (pure consciousness), they gave birth to the Shadaanana (six headed), also called Lord Kartikeya.

You can understand this in terms of the Kundalini Shakti.

Ganesha

The whole universe is nothing but groups of atoms, groups of qualities, of different energies. Gana means group and a group cannot exist without a lord, a supreme energy which holds it together. The Lord of all these groups of atoms and energies is Ganesha.

Like the queen bee whose mere existence brings forth the honeycomb, this diverse universe in itself is enough evidence for Ganesha's presence. This universe would be in chaos if there was no supreme law governing these diverse groups of entities.

Now the question arises that why this supreme power is depicted in the form of an elephant?

Sri Padmanabha: Lord Vishnu with lotus-sized navel

Depiction of  Sri Padmanabha (Lord Vishnu)

Based on the description in scriptures, idols and paintings of different Gods and Goddesses were developed and portrayed by our ancestors.

The painter portrayed Lord Vishnu like this - there is a sheer sagar (ocean of milk) with a bed of snakes, on which Maha Vishnu, the lord, rests. 

Sheer sagar is the blissful mind, the mind in which waves of contentment arise. 

God is sleeping - Wake him up!

God sleeps only in India. Here, as we know that God is sleeping, we don’t have any fear. We believe that since God is sleeping, we can get away with anything.

Have you ever thought about this? This is a very deep topic. God is sleeping, and you are awake. Here people follow rituals to wake up God by wishing him good morning, singing Suprabhatams, Balaji Suprabhatam, doing Devi jagran singings, ringing bells etc. This seems so crazy, how can we wake up God? Is not it his duty to wake us up? 

Scholars have established this – Humanity wakes up first and then they awaken God. This is a unique ritual among humans. Yet, there is something very subtle in this.

Ramayana - The spiritual side

Though Ramayana is history, it is also an eternal phenomenon happening all the time.

Ra means radiance, Ma means myself. Rama means ‘the light inside me’. 

Rama was born to Dasharath and Kousalya. Dasharath means ‘Ten Chariots’. The ten chariots symbolize  the five organs of perception (the five senses) and five organs of knowledge and action (For instance: reproduction, legs, hands and so on). Kousalya means ‘skill’.

 Ayodhya means ‘a society in which there is no violence’. If you skillfully observe what goes on inside the body, light dawns inside you. That is meditation. You need some skill to relax the tension. Then you start expanding.

330 million Gods?

The Vedas refer to not millions of deities but 33 supreme deities.

33 crore Gods?

A popular but unfounded belief has been spread that Hindus have 33 crore gods. It is a misunderstanding of the Vedic concept of the State, and hence a misinterpretation of the word koti. 

33 divinities are mentioned in the Yajur-veda, Atharva-veda, Satapatha-brahmana, and in several other Vedic and later texts. The number thirty-three occurs with reference to divinities in the Parsi scriptures of Avesta as well.The expression trayastrimsa deva is found in the list of classes of gods in Sanskrit Buddhist texts like the Divyavadana and Suvarnaprabhasa-sutra.

The word koti in 'trayastrimsati koti' does not mean the number '33 crore' or '330 million'. Here koti means 'supreme', pre-eminent, excellent, that is, the 33 'supreme' divinities.

Ohh Bhagavad Gita, but...

1. Is it some kind of preaching?

Well, its just Krishna and Arjuna talking to each other. The reader is the third person. Aren't you curious what they were up to?

Pooja - That which is born out of fullness

Sri Sri performing Puja

The ancient sages brought sacredness in every celebration, so that you don't lose the focus in the hustle-bustle of the activity. Observing rituals and religious practices (called Puja) is simply showing  one's gratitude to the Divine. This brings depth to the celebration.

These practices, along with promoting spiritual values and harmony in the family and society, have a scientific foundation as well. Unfortunately today people do not have access to this understanding and the value systems and traditions are lost as a result.

Science, Spirituality and India

Science and spirituality both moved together in this land.

Science says 'What is this?' while Spirituality deals with 'Who am I?', knowing who am I. The subjective knowledge about one's self is spirituality and the objective knowledge and objective analysis is science. They are not contradictory, they complement each other.They are the two sides of the same coin.

Wear a Bindi – Adore yourself

Why wear a Bindi?

1) It’s a sign of your Indianness
It’s a mark/symbol which differentiates you from